


205

by UniversalSatan



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drunken Kissing, M/M, Neighbors, Slow Burn, brent and teej are mentioned, just to throw in a curveball, thats really why this is so long lmfao, theres some angst but not really?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 21:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13466823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniversalSatan/pseuds/UniversalSatan
Summary: Someone who welcomes you when you first arrive, someone who will support you, someone who will laugh and cry with you, someone who you can trust, someone who you can fall in love with...It's called being a good neighbour.





	205

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for tumblr user @english-muffin-top [(idea from this ask)](https://english-muffin-top.tumblr.com/post/168834497364/hey-hey-its-your-secret-santa-i-was-wondering), but me being the idiot I am, I haven't been able to finish it until now... cause when i started writing... i just couldn't stop....
> 
> Anyways, huge thanks to my betas of varying extents: [Erin](http://girabbit.tumblr.com/), [Kodin](https://theslowestofsins.tumblr.com/), and [Tor](https://spiritbox-boogara.tumblr.com/)!! Sorry about all the trouble yall had to go through...

Swinging the key ring around his finger, he let it go into the air and caught it magnificently in the palm of his hand. He stared at the faded _205_ on his door for a little while longer before juggling the box in his arms to open his new apartment.

 

Shane had to nudge the door fully open with his hip to get in. Once he was actually inside, he didn’t bother taking off his shoes, opting to go all the way inside to ditch both the box in his arm and his backpack on the second-hand couch in the living room. Triumphantly, he stood up as straight as he could, hands on his hips, and scanned what he could see of his new apartment.

 

The beige living room hosted only a threadbare couch and heavy wood cabinet and bookcase that the previous tenants didn’t bother to take with them. _At least it meant that Shane could spend less on furnishings_. There was a breakfast bar separating the living room and the tiny kitchen, which would suffice as a dining table. He had been informed that everything was functional in the kitchen, despite it all looking rather worn. It wasn’t like Shane had been expecting that much of a luxurious area to live in considering the price he was paying and considering the little family that would even visit him in LA, so the apartment itself was actually quite a good deal.

 

Passing a few rooms in the hallway as he walked back to the front door, he checked inside each just to make sure they were in good shape. The bathroom looked okay, and his bedroom seemed fine if not completely empty. Shane made a mental note that he’d have to get a mattress and bedframe ASAP, and was grateful that he even owned a good sleeping bag. There was a utility closet and one more room, which could have been a guest bedroom, but Shane would probably end up making it a study. Closing the door behind him, Shane went to retrieve the rest of the boxes he owned from his rented UHAUL van outside.

 

It was probably his third or fourth trip, but he was just barely managing to get his door open with the extra-heavy boxes in his hand when he heard another apartment door creak open and the telltale pitter-patter of tiny paws galloping towards him. Shane squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for impact as he slammed against the wall in an attempt to not drop his boxes. He could feel something small worm around his legs. He groaned. _Where the fuck was its owner?_

 

“ _Micki! Come back here right now-_ Aw, _fuck_ , dude I’m so sorry.” A voice had just slammed its way through the door the tiny dog had come from, and slammed the door closed behind him as he made a valiant attempt to grab his pet. Shane did his best to assist him by lifting his own boxes a tiny bit higher.

 

“It’s… alright,” he fumbled for words, leaning back against the wall. The tiny bit of excitement had hit him unexpectedly and he was already running low on energy. His new neighbour finally stood up, tiny dog restrained in his arms, surprisingly calm.

 

“Oh, are you moving in?” Shane nodded, so the other man continued, “That’s cool. I’ll be your new neighbour, then. I’m in 203,” he pointed over to the door closest to his. “The name’s Ryan Bergara. My brother Jake also lives with me, but he’s usually out a lot. This is Micki, and Dori is inside.” Beaming, Ryan looked down fondly at Micki, making him wave by moving his paw. Micki didn’t seem to care either way.

 

“Shane Madej. I’d shake your hand, but my hands are kind of full.”

 

Ryan’s eyes widened suddenly. “Oh, sorry. I should probably help you with those.”

 

“You really don’t have to-“ Shane could already tell his protests were already going over his head, considering Ryan had turned around and was already pushing Micki back into his apartment.

 

“No, no, I should be helping you and being a good neighbour. How much do you have left?” he asked, rubbing his hands together.

 

“Only… well, there’s still quite a few boxes in the truck,” Shane admitted, smiling when Ryan pushed open his door for him. He stopped when Ryan steadied him, allowing him to grab the box on top of the one Shane was already holding. They moved together into his living room, dumping their boxes onto the floor with grunts of relief.

 

“I’d almost think you were a vampire, being in here,” Ryan commented with distaste, wandering over to the other side of the room. Shane would have protested at his rudeness, but just as he opened his mouth, Ryan grabbed the somewhat pathetic curtains and ripped them open, letting soft evening sunlight flood into the room. It bathed and painted the boxes and couch with a hazy light, making the room suddenly feel quite a few degrees warmer than it was before. “There – that should be a lot better.”

 

“Oh, yeah, thanks for that.” Shane drank in the change of his environment, unaware of how long he had remained like that until he had realized Ryan had just been standing and watching him silently. Blinking, he noticed for the first time how he towered over Ryan. Shane towered over everyone, but he still found the fact amusing. He gestured for his new neighbour to follow him out to the UHAUL truck outside.

 

Reaching in the trunk for a box and handing it to Ryan, Shane also vaguely noticed how Ryan’s arm muscles flexed as he adjusted to the weight of the box given to him. He actually had to tear his eyes away to keep from staring at how the muscles continued to barely be outlined in the sleeves of his t-shirt. _So_ … his neighbour was short, stocky, and _ripped as fuck_. Perfect to help him move stuff in.

 

At last, Shane dropped the final box onto the floor. Ryan crashed on his couch, almost in a starfish-like position, sigh long and loud. Shane perched on one of the breakfast bar stools, watching in amusement. Ryan’s head suddenly perked up, remembering something.

 

“Are you hungry?”

 

“Yeah, kind of. I probably have some instant noodles or dinners somewhere. I was hoping I could just pop by the convenience store and-“

 

“No, no, no, no,” Ryan shook his head insistently, “My brother and I can treat you to Chinese take-out. We don’t have anything good in the house at the moment either, but it can be our treat. Our welcome to you to the apartment complex.”

 

Ryan didn’t seem like he was going to have it any other way, but Shane tried anyhow. “You’ve really done enough already-“

 

“Don’t be so stubborn. I’ve already texted Jake, and he says he’d love to meet you,” Ryan insisted. His face suddenly morphed, seeming suddenly sheepish as though he may have overstepped his bounds. “Well, you can always, _er_ , if you don’t like Chinese or anything-“

 

“It’s fine; I love Chinese.”

 

The bright smile was back on Ryan’s face. “Perfect! Then… I’ll just leave you for a bit then… to settle in. I have to walk Micki and Dori anyways, and Jake needs to pick up the take-out before he comes home anyways. Just… just knock on our door in about an hour.” He stood up awkwardly, making his way over to the front door.

 

“203, right?” Shane’s face softened, gazing down at the neighbour that had been so welcoming to him the entire evening. “I’ll be there in exactly an hour.”

 

“Nice, nice.” Ryan was rubbing the back of his neck as he backed out of the apartment. “I’ll see you then, I guess.”

 

“See you then,” Shane said, closing the door as soon as his promise was out of his mouth.

 

Honestly, Shane was too exhausted to properly settle in. He realized that he would probably have to set up at the very least his sleeping bag at some point, but with only an hour to wait, doing anything seemed pointless. Shane ended up scrolling through his phone as he lazed on the couch.

 

At pretty much exactly an hour on the dot later, Shane found himself at the door with the number _203_ on it. Lifting his arm, he hesitated a second or two before knocking. Glancing down, he hoped he didn’t look too bad despite not having changed since moving in, which shouldn’t have been a worry in the first place as the event was intended to be informal anyhow.

 

There was a pattering of multiple sized feet on the other side of the door, and Ryan’s hushed voice scolding one or both of his dogs to clear the entrance area. A jingle of the lock, and then the door lurching forward. Ryan’s face peeked from the crack of an entrance.

 

“Hey again, Shane. Sorry – both Micki and Dori are excited that you’re here,” Ryan explained, holding the door open while trying to barricade the dogs in. Shane smirked in amusement and slid inside.

 

Once inside, Shane noticed that the Bergara apartment had the exact same layout as his did, if not reversed and well lived-in. There were family pictures dotted around every wall, despite only having the two brothers living there. Both of their bedroom doors were closed, but basketball and football merchandise was pinned up and displayed with pride. Shane didn’t know that much about sports, but at least one of the Bergaras seemed enamoured with whoever the _Lakers_ and the _Chargers_ were.

 

Another quality the Bergara household distinctly had that Shane’s still lacked was the sense of home. There was a lasting smell in the air that he could vaguely relate to one or multiple cultural cuisines, often mixed with the wafting smell of _Febreze_. The television was on in the living room, the drone of the reporter’s voice melding with the sounds of someone rummaging in the kitchen.

 

“Jake!” Ryan announced, leaning against a counter, watching his brother fumble with some ceramic plates, “Shane’s here. He just moved into 205.”

 

“Hello Jake. It’s nice to meet you,” Shane introduced himself, holding his hand out. Jake glanced between his hand and his face before putting the plates in his hands down to shake Shane’s hand.

 

“It’s good to see you, Shane. Ryan was telling me all about how Micki was ready to run you over while you were trying to move in.”

 

“He ran out before I could finish getting Dori ready,” Ryan added.

 

“-And he also mentioned something along the lines of _‘Bigfoot is our new neighbour’_.”

 

Shane turned to Ryan, enthralled at how the two brothers spoke for each other so fluently. “You called me Bigfoot behind my back?” he asked fondly, hand over his heart.

 

“Ryan here loves supernatural – I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned anything about it yet- _ow_ -“ Jake was abruptly cut off as Ryan elbowed him, grabbing the plates as an excuse.

 

Ryan smiled up sweetly to Shane, ignoring his brother. “I have an interest in _spirits_ . Bigfoot is _fun_ but not believable.”

 

“Hey, Bigfoot is totally believable,” Shane teased, crossing his arms but letting Ryan pass around him, “I’m living proof of that.”

 

“You’re saying that you’re descended from Bigfoot?”

 

“Probably somewhere up in my bloodline, yeah.”

 

Ryan ended up sitting with Shane at the breakfast bar, while Jake claimed the entire couch, half-heartedly promising his brother that he’d clean up if he dropped any food. They asked Shane a bit about himself, about where he came from, about why he had moved here, about where he worked… boring stuff, as Shane’s life didn’t have much to offer at the moment. Sometimes Ryan and Jake would discuss something amongst themselves or swap an inside joke, making Shane feel like he wasn’t even there, yet at no point did he ever feel uncomfortable in those situations. It was amusing to see them bicker and gossip about the rest of the neighbours in the apartment complex.

 

They had both managed to convince Shane to stay for a beer, but after being offered a second, he realized that he still needed to set up camp for the night. Pleased with the fact that he had already been introduced to his new rather nice neighbours, Shane retreated back to his own new apartment.

 

* * *

 

Shane didn’t talk to Ryan for another six months.

 

Of course, there was the occasion where they’d nod heads as they passed in the hallways, or when Shane would see Ryan out walking Micki and Dori, but other than that, it was relatively quiet between the two of them. It wasn’t that he disliked either of the Bergaras – quite the opposite in fact – but it was rather the lack of time that had presented itself to let him interact with any more of his neighbours.

 

This was why it came to Shane as a surprise when he saw Ryan sitting at the foot of his own door as Shane passed it. His head was lolled back as if he had fallen asleep, and even though he was doing his best to hold around his knees, they had relaxed so much that they had begun to spread. Shane could guess almost immediately what was going on as Ryan blinked slowly at him.

 

“Hey bud, what’s up?” Shane asked, voice light. The exhaustion from working in the restaurant all day felt heavy on his shoulders, but he miraculously found the energy for this.

 

“ _Ohhhh god,_ ” Ryan groaned, rubbing his eyes, “Hi Shane.”

 

“Why are you out so late?”

 

Ryan seemed hesitant to explain at first, and just stared at his dead phone for a few seconds. Sighing dramatically, he nudged his head into the door behind him, eyes squeezed shut, as he explained. “I was going out to get a few drinks with Jake, and I told him I was going home early because I was tired, but I _fucking left my keys at home_ . _Inside_ of my apartment, Shane. Jake, _who is out having all this fun right now_ , is the only one outside of that door who has the keys to my home.” Shane had to resist the urge to laugh, and simply offered a smile with all the patience of a fond parent.

 

“You… can crash at my place, if you’d like.” He couldn’t help the tiny chuckle when he saw how large Ryan’s eyes widened.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes really.”

 

“Are… are you sure?”

 

“Very.”

 

“I promise I’m not that drunk.”

 

Shane laughed. “Whatever you say. You can stay out here forever if you’d like.”

 

“N- no, I’m coming,” Ryan shook his head, standing up with the help of the wall. Shane went over to unlock his apartment. “You really don’t have to do this for me,” he added with a whisper.

 

“This is just part of being a good neighbour, isn’t that right?” Shane sing-songed, letting him in. “You can take the couch for the night; I don’t have a guest bedroom set up.”

 

Letting Ryan get comfortable, Shane ran around his flat to do his best at cleaning up whatever mess he had just left lying around, due to pretty much never having any company over anyways. At least Ryan seemed too tired to care, but Shane would do so anyways at least for when he sobered up. When he finally returned with an extra blanket and a glass of cold water, Ryan stared up at him, face filled with mixed emotions.

 

“I told you already: I’m _not drunk_.” He took the water glass anyways and sipped at it. Shane vaguely noticed his flushed cheeks, his mussed hair, and how hot he had gotten earlier in his nicely-fitted button-up – considering how the first few buttons had been undone. Well, at least that effect was probably mostly gone now, as Shane was pretty sure he saw Ryan shivering while he was still sitting outside.

 

“It’s still good for you, and you’ll be happier in the morning,” he informed him, handing him the blanket. “You can get more water from the fridge if you need any more, and… well, I suppose you know where the washroom is.”

 

“It’s changed a lot.”

 

“What? The washroom?”

 

“No, I mean your entire apartment.”

 

“Well, it does kind of have furniture in it now.”

 

“I mean…” Ryan grimaced, searching for the right wording, “It has a more… _homey_ feeling to it.”

 

“I _have_ been living here for six months now.”

 

He huffed. “Well… I like it. It’s nice.”

 

Shane wanted to just blame the alcohol for making his neighbour talk so much, but the something inside of him didn’t want him to stop rambling _. It wasn’t much that he had, but he supposed it was decent enough._

 

“Hmm… thanks. Sleep well.”

 

“G’night.”

 

It was interesting to note how comfortably Shane fell asleep, fully aware that someone he still barely knew was sleeping in his apartment just in the next room. It was also interesting to note how happy Shane was waking up to the salivating smell of cooking food throughout his flat – a gift of thanks for his hospitality.

 

* * *

 

The two of them had ended up exchanging phone numbers in case such an incident was to happen again – or anything else for that matter, each had added – before parting once again. That being said, neither had actually texted the other except to confirm that they had the right number. So once again, they went through a short period where they didn’t speak past courteous greetings. This time however, the hiatus only lasted for a few weeks.

 

Shane had been returning from work once again (earlier this time, _thank god_ ) when he bumped into not only Ryan, but also Jake and someone else he didn’t recognize. Each had plastic bags in their hands. Ryan ran up ahead to wave at Shane with his free hand.

 

“Shane! There’s a game starting in about 15 minutes… you should join us!” His smile was blinding as he fumbled with his door’s lock.

 

“Yeah, it’s just going to be us and Steven,” Jake piped up, Steven waving a quick _hello_ at the mention of his name, “We have snacks and everything.”

 

“Oh, uh, sure,” Shane said, running his hand through his hair, “I just need to drop off my things, and I’ll be right over.” _What Shane was doing, he had no idea (he barely knew anything about sports), but the Bergaras were extremely nice and he could afford to get to know them a little better._

 

“Cool. The door will be open. Lock it behind you.”

 

Right as the game was starting (it was basketball, so Shane guessed he would be cheering on the _Lakers_ ), Shane found himself squeezed beside Ryan, who was in turn sandwiched between himself and Steven. Jake was lounging on a separate armchair. Shane was set with a bowl of popcorn in his lap, but as soon as the whistle on the television blew, he was lost in the squeaking of shoes and the additional commentary from everyone else in the Bergara living room.

 

When Steven first complained that nothing was advancing, Shane decided to nudge Ryan in an attempt to clue himself in.

 

“Hey, Ryan?” he whispered, almost embarrassed if Jake or Steven heard considering their intense enthusiasm to the game currently playing, “I really don’t know what’s happening here at all. I don’t really watch sports.”

 

Ryan turned to look at him before smiling kindly. “I can explain to you if you’d like. As it’s happening.”

 

“That would help a lot.”

 

“In exchange, your share more of your popcorn with me.”

 

“… I thought you _gave_ this to me.”

 

“It’s a sin to deprive a man of their favourite food.”

 

“Popcorn is your favourite food too?”

 

“Hell, yeah it is- oh _SHIT WE ALMOST MISSED THAT PLAY, DID YOU SEE THAT SHANE?_ ” Ryan exclaimed, shaking Shane by the shoulders. He responded with a confusing combination of head shakes and nods, so Ryan slowed down a bit and explained what the player had done and just _why_ it was so exciting.

 

By the time the first commercial break was approaching, Shane had managed to get a basic grasp on the rules of basketball, as well as who were some of the better players and to be impressed by some of the moves they had pulled off. If he was being completely honest here though, Shane would have to admit that he did find Ryan’s immersed and delighted faces he made while explaining slightly more endearing than the actual game itself. He liked how his tone would flow as he explained some of the basics, and how it would dip into a lower whisper as he would brush over some of the smaller details before grabbing another fistful of popcorn.

 

Once the advertisements went about their ridiculous ways to try and sell stuff to their uninterested audience, Shane was more than happy to complain to Steven about his job. Ryan had temporarily left his spot on the couch to fix them up some more popcorn, so Shane was facing Steven completely, gesturing wildly with the hand that didn’t have a beer in it.

 

“-And then I come home tired and later than I should be just about every day… it’s not something I wanted to keep as a job forever, but so far there haven’t been any better options.”

 

“That sounds rough, buddy,” Steven reassured, “I don’t even want to complain. The worst that’s happened was a hopeful intern leaving, which really isn’t that bad.”

 

“Hey, Shane?” Ryan entered the room again, bowl full to the brim with the heavenly snack, “You’ve mentioned to me before that you have a degree in video production, am I wrong?”

 

“No, that sounds about right to me,” Shane frowned, “Why?”

 

“Well, that intern just left, and you’ve just been complaining about how much you dislike your job… why don’t you apply to our office? I’m sure we could get a good word in.”

 

“What’s the name of the company again?”

 

“Buzzfeed.”

 

“Oh. Rings a bell.” _Rings a bell his ass – Shane, being the internet user he was, knew very well who Buzzfeed was._

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Ryan, have you never mentioned to Shane that you work at Buzzfeed before?” There was a twinkle in Steven’s eye, but he seemed to have a misconception about them anyhow.

 

Ryan shrugged. “We haven’t actually talked that much. I like to think we get along well though, since this is technically the third time we’ve really met.”

 

“Oh. Wow, really?”

 

“Yeah,” Shane confirmed, “In any event, the job sounds more interesting than the one I currently have. I’d definitely be up to applying.”

 

“I’ll text you the details after then,” Ryan informed him, his persona immediately changing the second the final advertisement finished up, “Oh shit, guys, it’s starting back up again.” He wriggled back in between Shane and Steven, plopping the popcorn bowl into Shane’s lap so he could narrate with as much freedom as he liked.

 

* * *

 

**Shane Madej:** holy shit

**Shane Madej:** i got the job

**Ryan Bergara:** _{open-mouthed emoji}{smiling emoji}{thumbs-up emoji}_

**Ryan Bergara:** I knew you could do it!!!

**Shane Madej:** i cant believe i can actually leave my other job now haha

**Ryan Bergara:** when do you start?

**Shane Madej:** next monday

**Shane Madej:** gives me about half a week

**Ryan Bergara:** wow so soon!

**Ryan Bergara:**   i’ll see you around starting monday

**Shane Madej:** see you on monday

**Shane Madej:**   i still dont know how I did it

 

* * *

 

Shane rubbed his eyes, trying to stifle an oncoming yawn. His first day hadn’t been horrible, and most of the people in the office seemed pretty nice, so overall it could be counted as a good day. He had passed both Steven and Ryan during the day, but Ryan was too immersed in whatever video he was editing to even acknowledge him at all. Which was perfectly fine; if Shane didn’t mess up horribly, he would probably end up bumping into Ryan constantly during the work day anyhow.

 

As the week progressed, Shane was tasked with more work, and quickly became immersed within the workplace. One of his coworkers he had been shadowing had even invited him to a slightly more casual filming, just so Shane could get a general idea of how shoots worked.

 

“You know, Shane,” Ryan said one day as he was refilling his coffee mug. Shane had barely noticed that he was behind him. “We don’t interact that much, even though we’re neighbours. You should come by my desk every once in a while to have lunch.”

 

“I’ll be at a shoot later today, but I’d be happy to on Monday,” Shane suggested.

 

“Sounds good! How are you liking the job so far?”

 

“A lot better. I’m already getting quite a bit of work, but I’m getting used to it.”

 

“Do you have any social media?”

 

“Yeah. I do my share of internet browsing.”

 

“Pretty much everyone in the office has at the very least a Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to their name. Well, not so much a Tumblr to their name, but it’s very handy to gather intel.”

 

“I have one, and I’d say I’m pretty familiar with the community for the most part as well.”

 

“Perfect. I don’t know if you can tell yet, but a lot of the work we do here surrounds the fact that we’re all well invested in what’s going on in social media,” Ryan grinned, taking a sip of his coffee.

 

“I couldn’t tell,” Shane rolled his eyes, earning a laugh from his neighbour and coworker.

 

“I’ve got a write-up that I need to finish up this morning,” Ryan said, slapping Shane’s back lightly, “I’ll see you around.”

 

“See ya around.”

 

* * *

 

“Shane, do you have a desk yet?”

 

Shane glanced up from his laptop screen at the HR officer, who was leaning back in their rolly chair. “Erm, no, not yet. I’ve mainly been out on shoots or just working here.” The officer peered at him for a few more seconds before making up their mind.

 

“Someone transferred to a different location recently, and we have a free desk. I think you’ve been training for long enough. You have your head wrapped around what you have to do anyways, correct?” Shane nodded, sitting up straighter and lowering his laptop screen as the officer continued. “Perfect. I’ll show you your new desk then. It’ll be a lot easier for you to work there.”

 

“O-oh, alright, thank you,” Shane muttered, picking up his bag and closing his laptop, rushing to follow them.

 

“It’s right beside Ryan… do you know Ryan Bergara that well yet?”

 

“Yes, actually… I know him pretty well.”

 

“Excellent.” They clapped their hands together excitedly, marching over to where Ryan sat and tapped him on the shoulder. Ryan glanced around, confused, before letting his headphones slide down to hang around his neck. “Ryan, Shane here is going to be your new neighbour. I hope you two will get along well.”

 

Ryan looked up to where Shane towered over him, breaking into a large smile. “Are we that new of neighbours?” he asked, a twinkle of humor in his eye.

 

“No, I suppose we really aren’t,” Shane replied, setting down his laptop on his new desk beside his not-so-new neighbour.

 

* * *

 

There were only a few more minutes until the last of the videos Shane was uploading from his camera would be done. He was in all honesty completely ready to call it a day, and had already packed up all of his belongings, waiting only for the progress bar to reach completion. Unsure of anything else that he could do, Shane checked Twitter on his phone.

 

“Are you almost done for the day?” Shane glimpsed up to where his friend stood. His computer had already been shut off, and his bag on his shoulder.

 

Shane nodded. “Yup. I’m just waiting for this to finish up.”

 

“Oh. Cool, cool,” Ryan hummed. Shane shifted his concentration back to his phone, but out of the corner of his eye he could see him still standing there. His gaze shifted across the entire office as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

 

“Do you need something?” he asked. Shane didn’t look up, but he could see Ryan gape. He didn’t speak for another 10 seconds.

 

“You take transit, right?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Well… I was wondering if you’d like a drive home?” Shane clicked off his phone, looking up to see Ryan rubbing the back of his neck. Ryan continued, words tumbling out of his mouth slightly quicker. “I mean, we _do_ live in the same building, and I think we’d both be a lot happier carpooling… and Jake uses transit most of the time anyhow-”

 

“Yeah, I’ll go with you,” Shane interrupted him before he could run out of things to say without becoming repetitive. “I don’t know how long you’re willing to wait though. It should be almost finished, but you never know…”

 

Ryan relaxed completely, beaming. “Oh, that’s alright! I’m sure it won’t be long, and it’s not like you’re doing overtime either. I can wait a few extra minutes.” His neighbour sat himself back down in his chair, pulling out his phone to pass the time.

 

It was probably only 5 minutes that had passed before Shane had all of his things packed up. With a few confirmative _Let’s go_ s, they headed out to the parking lot. Ryan’s car was already relatively familiar, as he had seen it more often than not parked beside of the complex entrances. This, however, would be the first time he would actually ride in it.

 

Relaxing completely into the faux leather of the seat after hearing the telltale click of the seatbelt, Shane lazily examined the contents of Ryan’s car. Despite the rest of the interior being relatively spotless, fast food wrappers were thrown around the foot of both the front and back seats, to which Ryan had already hastily apologized over. There was also a scented car freshener swinging from the rear-view mirror, as well as a few chargers and other knick knacks in different compartments.

 

They were well on their way back home already, but Shane also took the time to take in one of the most important things in the car: _Ryan Bergara himself_. The radio had been turned on low, so Ryan was distracted enough with humming whichever tune was playing and his own driving. Shane wasn’t staring per se - it was more like getting the best view he could without being obvious. Of course, Ryan’s resting face was rather calming, and it only changed if a particular emotion got through to him from the radio. And then there was his arms, which were a blessing in themselves. Shane could appreciate how outlined they were despite being completely relaxed, suspended by Ryan’s hands hooking around the rim of the steering wheel.

 

“Are you working on anything big right now?” Ryan asked out of the blue, keeping his eyes on the road. He tapped his finger on the steering wheel.

 

“I’m filming some projects at the moment. One of them it’s just me manning the sound and video, which I’d say is a pretty big step from working with other behind-the-scenes crew.”

 

“Wow, not bad. You’ve progressed quite a bit since you’ve started. Are you feeling happy with the position so far?”

 

“It definitely changes a lot more than my job at the restaurant, which was one thing I was looking for. I’d say I’m pretty happy.”

 

“Hmm? That’s good.”

 

“Oh, I did get invited to participate in a group video.”

 

“Really? How did that go?”

 

Shane launched into a description of what the shoot had presented itself to be. It was pretty simple of a task to answer questions with a coworker, but Shane was pleased to admit that he acted well in front of the camera, and could potentially be a natural. Ryan assured him that he had a very outgoing and likeable persona when he wanted. They cracked jokes with each other and took turns complaining about tiny things within the office.

 

They didn’t realize how long they chatted for until Shane noticed they were lingering just in front of his door, the dull _205_ evident in the corner of his eye. He gripped his bag strap a little tighter, realizing how little he wanted to end their conversation.

 

“-Oh… I didn’t realize we were already at your place,” Ryan spoke abruptly, interrupting his own speech.

 

“Oh… um… yeah… I didn’t notice either.”

 

“Yeah, well… it was great catching up with you again.” Ryan was rubbing the back of his neck again. He had a habit of doing that. “We should do it again whenever you can.”

 

“That sounds perfect,” Shane flashed him a grin, had already on his doorknob. “Since we’re neighbours, we should be able to talk more anyways, but it was really nice not having to take transit again today.”

 

“Anytime dude.”

 

“See you tomorrow.”

 

“See you tomorrow.”

 

Naturally, they continued to carpool in Ryan’s car from that day on.

 

* * *

 

“ _Test friends? What’s that?_ ” Shane muttered to himself, absently staring at the email on his screen.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re trying to set up another show,” Ryan answered for him. He was staring at his own screen, twisting repetitively in his rotating chair. The few clicks of his mouse showed that he was working on something else, paying only a bit of attention to Shane.

 

“I thought they already had enough success with the _Try Guys_ so far.  How is this supposed to be any different?”

 

“Specifics, man. I don’t know either. Oh, hey… I got an email about it too.”

 

“Hmm… it honestly looks like a spam email.”

 

“Which part? The “ _try going a week on a liquid diet_ ”? Or the obvious sponsorship from _Soylent_?”

 

“All of it.”

 

“Remember where you work, dude.”

 

“Do you want to do this together?”

 

“Fuck yeah.”

 

“Here goes nothing.”

 

Shane was really not sure whether he regretted working at Buzzfeed at all when he found himself draped across his desk a week later. It felt as if nothing in life was good and that fate just had it out for him to make him suffer. He could hear Ryan laughing at him.

 

“I fuckin _hate_ this, Ryan, what the fuck,” he groaned, “I had a dream about _bread_ last night. Fuckin _bread_.”

 

“Jen seems to be taking this better than you are.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“Don’t forget to finish your meal,” Ryan teased, poking Shane’s shoulder, “You gotta get your daily fix of nutrients.”

 

“You’d be such a liar if you said it isn’t affecting you as much as it’s affecting me.”

 

“I’d say it’s quite cleansing, actually.”

 

“God I hate you so much.”

 

* * *

 

The second _Test Friends_ video was no doubt a bad idea in disguise, but seeing how Ryan immediately agreed to participating, Shane didn’t see any harm in going along as well. That night they were all supposed to go out partying, and Shane wasn’t as sure what to expect anymore.

 

Maycie was nowhere to be found, and he could tell both Ryan and Jen were getting tired of waiting. Someone had already brought the liquor out, and they were all ready to take shots while they waited. Before they knew it, two drinks were down the hatch and Maycie had actually texted them that she was on her way.

 

“This is definitely a bad idea, isn’t it,” Shane mused, leaning against the counter. Ryan was holding his phone, possibly recording them as they waited. “Even if this _‘cure’_ is supposed to work.”

 

“It’s going to be fun, loosen up Shane,” Ryan reassured him, “I’m just glad I found an excuse to get completely wasted on a weekday.”

 

“We still have to come to work tomorrow morning.”

 

“Don’t be a buzzkill, bigfoot. This shit is supposed to work. Plus, it’s going to be great going out with you guys of all people.”

 

“Maycie’s taking too long,” Jen complained, walking between the two of them and barely in front of Ryan’s camera, almost unaware that she was being recorded. “Should we facetime my dad? He’s a cool guy.”

 

Shane wasn’t really paying attention to what Jen was saying. Instead, he watched how Ryan entertained Jen’s idea, but didn’t bother to fix the camera’s angle as he spoke. Shane could admit that he was at least a little excited for the evening. Not only was he going to be drunk around Ryan, but a damn good looking Ryan too. His hair was styled up neatly, and his face was already glowing. And his shirt was well picked out too, emphasizing his figure and features…

 

“Hey, Ryan,” Shane beckoned, gathering the attention of his friend. Once he was sure he was in full view of the camera, he winked directly into the camera, smirking back up to his friend when he heard Ryan burst into giggles. _This was going to be a wild night._

 

Maycie arrived not a few minutes later, and much to their surprise they saw a limo waiting for them outside. He wasn’t sure why, but as the night progressed, Shane constantly found Ryan by his side. In the limo, he was squeezed up against him on the seat, passing a drink between them as they rode out to a decent bar. Ryan was also rather warm and comfortable, so while he wasn’t conversing loudly with the rest of the group and sitting forward, he found himself lying against Ryan’s shoulder.

 

Inside the bar was no better. It was difficult to hear anything anyone said over the loud music and the rest of the chatter in the bar, and both found each other right next to each other again when they sat at a table. Each would occasionally say something to Jen or Maycie or one of the camera crewmembers, or even move to go order another drink. Still, with the dimmed lights and a beat pulsing throughout his body, Shane could almost feel pleasure and impulsiveness coarse through his veins.

 

“God, it’s kind of hot in here,” Ryan shouted over the noise, tugging at his shirt collar. Shane let his gaze flicker to the skin he was exposing that was bathed in the soft light of the bar .

 

“That’s because you’re drinking so much,” Shane shouted back, loudly slurping at whatever sweet cocktail he was on now.

 

Ryan burst into laughter. “So are you! Why don’t we go up and dance?”

 

“What?”

 

“I said we should go up and dance. Jen’s long gone, and I want to go up before I’m too wasted to do anything.”

 

“Alright. Lead the way, pretty boy.”

 

His wrist was suddenly seized by Ryan, and was being tugged out of the booth they had been situated in. Shane did his best to drink as much of his drink as he could before he was completely pulled away, and waved to Maycie who was only half-paying attention to him.

 

Dancing was admittedly a bit of a blur to Shane. There was a bit of a haze over the entire scene, and the most he could probably say about it was that he felt _‘loose’_ . Both he and Ryan ended up dancing with another smaller group they just met there. He knew dancing wasn’t one of his best points, but he couldn’t stop smiling when everyone else would keep on drunkenly laughing and cheering at different things any of them did. Ryan even had some pretty whack moves, which Shane found absolutely _hilarious_.

 

While they danced a lot closer to each other, Ryan suddenly tried pulling Shane down to him. Grin large and goofy, he complied, and felt his friend’s hot breath tickle around his ear as he spoke to him.

 

“Hey Shane,” Ryan mumbled, his words already starting to slur together, “I need to use the washroom.”

 

“I do too. Lead the way, Ry.” Smirking lazily, Ryan led Shane away from the crowd to the hallway where the washrooms were.

 

Washing his hands after finishing what he needed to do, Shane watched in amusement how all the soap suds washed away with the water. He turned his hands around in the water over and over again, relishing the feeling of the temperature seeping into his skin. Glancing up into the mirror, he caught sight of Ryan Bergara just behind him, absently fixing his hair the same way over and over again.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Fixing my hair, you big dummy,” he replied casually, not taking his eyes off his hair.

 

“You’re handsome enough as it is. Having it a little bit messy makes it look incredible as well,” Shane commented lightly, grabbing a fistful of paper to dry off his hands with. When he turned around, he saw that Ryan had a hand to his heart.

 

“My hot neighbour and coworker thinks I’m handsome?”

 

“Mmmmmaybe so.” He walked all the way up to him and impulsively ran his hands through Ryan’s hair, scuffling it so that it stuck up at odd angles.

 

“You absolute _dick_ \- I literally _just_ fixed that,” Ryan growled, wrestling Shane’s arms to try and fix his hair again. Shane kept on an easy smile as he swatted away Ryan’s hands.

 

“It looks hotter this way.”

 

“ _Fucker_ ,” Ryan muttered under his breath, and then steeled his voice, “If you don’t let me fix my hair, then I’ll mess up yours.”

 

“Try me.”

 

“God _dammit_ , Shane, why the _fuck_ are you so tall,” Ryan pouted angrily, doing his best to get at least one hand through his hair. Shane couldn’t help laughing at how much his height gave him the advantage. Giving up, he smoothed down Shane’s shirt and left his hands flat against Shane’s chest. “Fine. Then I’ll just have to kiss my hot neighbour to make them stop messing up my hair.”

 

“I don’t think your hot neighbour would be so opposed to that idea.”

 

Ryan smiled triumphantly, bunching up the fabric of Shane’s shirt into his hands. “Good. I think I’m drunk and impulsive enough for this.”

 

“Then kiss me, Bergara.”

 

Being already in such close proximity to Ryan with the amount of alcohol in his system warmed him to the bone. When Ryan pulled him all the way forward to meet with his lips, he let himself forget where he was as he was pushed up against the bathroom wall. Ryan was actually pretty strong, and attractively so.

 

Their lips slotted together messily and their kiss was sloppy, but Shane was happy with it. He’d never ultimately considered his neighbour like this, but having gone through with his decision, Shane found himself very pleased with how his night was turning out. Slyly, he slid his arms around Ryan’s waist, pulling the small of his back towards him so that they were further pressed together.

 

_By god though_ \- the way Ryan was moving would probably be the death of him. He would cockily smirk against his lips, and then he’d nibble on Shane’s bottom lip. Shane was more than happy to oblige when he tried to bring tongues in the question, drunkenly making their kiss just that much more messy.

 

The washroom door squeaked open, and they separate from each other hastily to wipe off any excess saliva. Whoever entered didn’t seem to care whatsoever that they were there, yet nevertheless the two both made an attempt to straighten their appearance. While Shane was distracted with brushing off any imaginary wrinkles in his shirt, he failed to notice Ryan’s hand dive right up to his hair and ruffle it up.

 

“Gotcha,” Ryan whispered fondly, dropping his hand.

 

“Aw man,” Shane snapped his fingers in defeat, but couldn’t hide the smile that broke out on his face.

 

“Let’s- let’s go back out… I wanna get another drink.”

 

Exiting the washroom, they were greeted by one of their cameras, reminding them of what their actual mission of the night was. Cheering loudly to the camera with Jen magically appearing behind them, they rejoined the rest of their group for the rest of the night.

 

* * *

 

The next morning felt like absolute hell to Shane. It felt like Satan himself had come into his home while he slept and had beaten the shit out of him, and yet he _still_ had to go to work. Groaning in displeasure, Shane forced himself to roll out of his bed and start getting ready for the day.

 

Shane was nowhere near hungry, so he found himself brushing his teeth right away after getting dressed. The minty toothpaste was only doing so much to get rid of the horrible taste in his mouth, but at least it was something.

 

Staring at his face in the mirror, he noticed that he didn’t look as bad as he thought he would’ve, which also was something. Still, he supposed nothing could show just how nauseous he felt or how painful the splitting headache he had was. He was also still pretty flushed, which could possibly be helped with a few more splashes of cold water.

 

Pinching at his lips, a vague memory of him kissing Ryan _goddamn_ Bergara floated through his head. They were both drunk and agreed to do it, so potentially there was no harm done, but Shane still didn’t know what to think of it. Would he confront Ryan about it? _Probably not_ . Would he try to organize his own thoughts to figure out what he actually felt about Ryan? _Probably not._

 

Sighing, he turned off his bathroom lights and went to grab his stuff for the day. He still had the other half of a video to film and hopefully a cure to his killer hangover at work, and was probably blowing up the entire situation way bigger than it actually was.

 

While he was making his way across the complex parking lot to his bus stop, however, Shane spotted his other coworker Brent exit a car and make his way over to where he had just left. Cursing under his breath, his headache suddenly felt a hundred times worse than it did before.

 

* * *

 

Shane didn’t join the next few _Test Friends_ videos.

 

It would be petty to say that it was because of the last video he was in. No, Shane wasn’t that kind of a person. In fact, he busied himself with researching for his own videos. He had progressed enough in his work that he was confident in starring in a series of his own - with some help, of course. _Street Tested_ required both research and experimental energy, which easily busy-ed up his schedule.

 

Of course, Shane and Ryan still exchanged casual banter throughout the day. Ryan was busy enough with his own shoots, so they had enough to talk about the few chances they worked side-by-side. Even though they never discussed it, something about the way Ryan looked at him, Shane had the strangest feeling that Ryan still remembered everything that happened. Apparently they both had the same stance on the topic though: if no one was going to make a move on it, then they’d let it pass. Months later when Shane still thought about it, he realized that it would definitely be way too late to bring it up anyways.

 

Shane did work in a few _Test Friends_ episodes, but he could already tell the series was dwindling and wouldn’t be continuing for much longer. It took a while for him to actually notice, but Ryan had also started on his own project.

 

“Yeah! It’s about the disappearance of the _Somerton Man_ ,” Ryan explained gleefully, saving what he had of a video thumbnail he had so far, “It’s a really interesting true crime case, and I think I might actually be able to run a show about these kinds of things if people latch onto it.”

 

“You’ve always been pretty interested in cryptic stuff like that. Didn’t you call me _Bigfoot_ when we first met?”

 

“You remember that?” Ryan gazed at him in awe, “That was so long ago, _wow_ , I can’t believe you remember that too. Eventually, I would like to bring in supernatural investigations into the show as well.”

 

“Who are you working with?”

 

“Well I’ve got Teej as part of the cameras, oh, and I’m co-hosting with Brent!” Ryan’s voice was cheerful, but his words still left a sour taste in Shane’s mouth. He forced out a grin.

 

“Oh, Brent, huh?”

 

“Yeah! I mentioned it to him a while ago, and he seemed up to it.”

 

“Really, huh.” Shane was back to staring at his own screen, trying to find work that needed to be done. He should’ve been happy for Ryan, how he was going out and making content he enjoyed making, and yet here he was, feeling strangely jealous of Brent. _God_ , he should really be acting his age, but even just thinking of Brent’s face made his skin prickle uncomfortably. _What was something grown up he could do that would help him get over his dumb jealousy?_

 

“And I’m a bit nervous about the debut but-”

 

“Hey, Ryan?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I know it’s been kind of busy lately and we’ve had very different schedules lately but… I was wondering if you would still be up for letting me tag along on your way back home?” Shane tried not to sound to hopeful, but this was the best way he could get closer to Ryan again.

 

“Carpool again?” He sounded surprised. “Yeah, of course you can, man. I’m finishing up at around the same time I used to, and I’m not against it.”

 

“Oh, thanks a lot,” Shane breathed out a sigh of relief, “You know, I can even drive sometimes if you’re feeling extra tired… and pay for gas sometimes too.”

 

Ryan shook his head quickly. “No, no, that’s fine. I mean, if you really want to, you’re welcome to, but I’m fine driving all the time. All I’m doing is adding to the luggage, right?”

 

“If you say so.”

 

Ryan stared at him for a while - longer than normal. The seconds stretched out to Shane as he desperately tried to piece apart everything that was happening. He couldn’t quite tell, but there was something soft behind the look Ryan was giving him. All too soon though, Ryan was looking away again - stretching and standing up.

 

“ _Hohhhh man_ … now that that’s settled, I’m going to go grab myself another coffee. Do you need anything?”

 

“Whatever you’re getting.”

 

“Cool. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

 

Shane watched his neighbour walk away, feeling something warm spread across his chest. He hadn’t really _talked_ to Ryan about anything, but he had done as much as he could, which seemed to be enough for now.

 

* * *

 

A day off was a day off, and as much as Shane wanted to stay in bed all day, he was in a desperate need to go grocery shopping at the moment. It was a nice day for the summer too, so Shane at the very least tried to enjoy his walk there once he dragged himself out of his apartment.

 

He was _so close_ to getting to his own apartment when he heard the familiar patter of paws galloping towards him. Shane braced himself, unfortunately realizing there were more pawsteps at a time than he’d wish to hear. Not to mention more noses _nuzzling his legs than he wished to imagine._

 

“Ryan, I thought you only had two dogs,” Shane groaned miserably from where he stood. Glaring down, he could see a white bulldog roaming around his legs along with Micki and Dori.

 

“Oh,” Ryan suddenly rounded a corner, jogging up to Shane with a shit-eating grin, “I see you’ve met Bubba.”

 

“I didn’t even know you were allowed pets in the complex, much less _three_.”

 

“We didn’t adopt Bubba, silly,” he beamed. Ryan didn’t flinch or turn around when his brother rounded the corner, and stayed completely still while Jake crouched down in an attempt to take ahold of Bubba and Dori.

 

“Oh, hello again, Shane,” Jake greeted him, glancing up to Shane from where he was. Shane stared at him in bewilderment.

 

“Then… where did you two get… uh… _Bubba_?”

 

Jake answered for him. “Mom and Dad are over. Bubba stays with them, but they like to bring him over when they visit so he can see Micki and Dori.”

 

“I’m surprised you haven’t seen him around before. They usually come to visit quite a bit, but you’ve been gone each time,” Ryan added, picking up Bubba and rubbing him endearingly. Bubba’s face broke out into a sloppy grin where he let his tongue almost hang out of his mouth as he panted.

 

“I’ve been really busy lately… and then they were never here when we carpooled.”

 

“They haven’t really come over that much lately,” Jake continued, “But now that they’re here they’re cooking a bunch. That’s why we went to walk the dogs.” He somehow managed to grab one of the dogs and shove them back into the apartment.

 

“Oi, Jake? Ryan?” A woman peeked her head out of the door, “Took you two long enough. Dinner’s almost ready.”

 

“Coming, mom,” Ryan sighed. He gestured to Jake to start moving back into their own apartment. Thank god he had now taken Micki, who was still squirming around Shane’s legs, back to the apartment with him.

 

“Who’s this?” She nudged her head towards Shane curiously. She stepped out to be completely in view, she brushed off invisible wrinkles from her apron.

 

“Oh,” Ryan said, standing up a bit straighter. Bubba squirmed a bit in his arms. “Mom, this is my neighbour and coworker, Shane Madej.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Bergara,” Shane stepped forward, dropping one of his grocery bags to shake her hand.

 

“Shane Madej, huh,” she nodded, scanning him over with an unreadable expression. Shane strained the grin he had on his face. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

 

Shane blanked. “Uh… what?” he said dumbly.

 

“Mom…” Ryan whined, still holding Bubba as he tried to urge her away.

 

“Come, come,” she gestured, finally going back into the Bergara apartment, “You should join us.”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Shane smiled kindly. “I would love to, but I still have to put my groceries away-”

 

“I insist,” Mrs. Bergara shook her head, a smile beginning to crack, “Put away what you need to, but we would love for you to join us.”

 

“Alright,” he finally complied, “I’ll just pop a few things in the fridge and I’ll be right on over.”

 

“Perfect,” she cried as she clapped her hands. Turning, she then addressed her son. “Bring Bubba back in and then help us finish up with the food.” Ryan looked too surprised to protest, so instead he disappeared into his own apartment.

 

Sooner rather than later, Shane found himself once again in the Bergara apartment, eating with the entire family. Ryan was sitting beside him at the breakfast bar.

 

“So you are also his coworker?” Ryan’s dad asked as he served himself.

 

“Yes,” Shane confirmed, “He and his friend Steven actually recommended me to the job.”

 

“So now you’re very good friends with Ryan now, no?”

 

“Well… I guess you could say we’ve been getting closer lately.”

 

“Nonsense,” Mrs. Bergara shook her head, “Ryan talks about you all the time.”

 

“Oh, really?” The surprise in Shane’s tone was completely authentic. He risked a glance to his friend. Ryan was avoiding his eye contact and stuffing more food into his mouth.

 

Jake had a devilish grin on his face as he piped up. “Yeah… Ryan’s constantly updating me on how you’re doing when I’m not around as much.”

 

“That’s because you’re always out partying with your friends,” Ryan whined, to which both of their parents shot Jake a glare. It was incredibly amusing to spectate as an outsider, Shane casually noticed.

 

“I do not such thing,” Jake crossed his arms, “My job is just really time consuming. _And_ I have friends I need to keep.”

 

“I have plenty of friends!”

 

“I never said you didn’t.”

 

“Boys!” Mr. Bergara warned with a stern voice, “Now is not the time. You guys should know better - I thought you two were old enough.” Both shut up rather quickly, but Jake sent one last smirk to Ryan, much to his chagrin. Shane was too busy reeling in the fact that he actually was talked about while he was away to notice.

 

“No, it’s alright,” Shane assured. He set down his plate and stood up. “I’ll be right back. Washroom.”

 

As soon as closed the bathroom door and turned on the lights, he could hear muffled voices speak up again from the living room. The brightness and reflection of the entire foreign room in the dinky bathroom mirror made him feel like he was isolated on his own plane of existence, listening to a distant conversation that he should never have been a part of. Curiosity taking the best of him, he put back away his phone and tried his best to eavesdrop. _Damn the loud bathroom fan._

 

“He’s too tall,” a gruff voice complained.

 

“That’s your argument?” another complained.

 

“I think he’s very nice,” a more feminine voice added, “Didn’t you two have some sort of fight-”

 

“No, it’s nothing like that,” the second voice squeaked, hastily interrupting the feminine one. “And I swear to fucking hell Jake if you try and pull anything else I’ll rip your head off.”

 

“Chill,” the voice that that was supposedly Jake laughed, “You’re taking it too seriously, like you’re in middle school or something.”

 

“You’re the one that looks like they’re in middle school.”

 

“No I don’t, idiot.”

 

“ _Boys_ ,” the feminine voice warned again.

 

“Mom, we didn’t have a fight, don’t worry about it.”

 

“But you seemed so torn up about it-”

 

Shane’s heart thumped loudly in surprise. He never really knew Ryan’s side of… whatever happened that night but… the fact that they didn’t say anything was probably pretty shitty on both of their halves. Realizing that he had probably been in the bathroom for too long, Shane quickly flushed the toilet, drowning out the next few phrases someone was saying.

 

“...fine now. You can bother me later; I think he’s done.”

 

Crouching down in the hallway, Shane pet Micki, who had come to say hi to him again. He vaguely noticed how a strange silence had fallen upon the living room despite not having gone back yet. Jake laughed at something on the TV, which had apparently been turned on while he was gone.

 

The atmosphere wouldn’t have nearly been as awkward if he hadn’t eavesdropped previous, but he could see in their eyes as they struggled to find something to say something that they hadn’t been discussing before. Trying to play it cool, Shane grabbed his own plate and continued eating.

 

“So…” Mr. Bergara finally broke the tension, “What projects are you currently working on, Shane?”

 

* * *

 

Ryan had his head on his desk again. It wasn’t unusual for him to be complaining yet again about the hot LA weather, so Shane had gotten used to ignoring his groans. He had thought the tank top and fan pointing in his direction would be enough, but apparently not.

 

“Go stick your head in a freezer or something.”

 

“Shut up, Shane,” Ryan whined. He slowly sat up and rubbed tiredly at his eyes before adjusting his baseball cap. Shane frowned.

 

“Hey man, you getting enough sleep?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Then why are you acting so overdramatic?”

 

Ryan shot him a look. “I’m not. I’m just... “

 

“ _Spill it_ , Ryan.”

 

“I would, if you’d stop _interrupting_. It’s just… Brent says he’s leaving Buzzfeed Unsolved… to work on other projects or something.”

 

Shane raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t react further from that. Well... he couldn’t outright express how oddly and selfishly _relieved_ he felt at the thought of Brent no longer being a part of Ryan’s most beloved project. His brain whizzed, trying to figure out the right words of consolation.

 

“God… what are you planning on doing?” Shane asked, swivelling his chair to face him. “All that True Crime and Supernatural stuff... it’s one of your biggest interests, isn’t it?”

 

“And Brent had already come with me to a few locations… I thought he was _in_ in, y’know?” Ryan was running his hands through his hair and then trying to put his baseball cap on. It was like he couldn’t find enough things to do with his hands. Plus Shane did know. _Very well_ . He had watched every single episode previous because he was still proud of what Ryan had done, and he had even had been there when the desk beside him was empty, because Ryan was on some sort of _trip_ with Brent.

 

“What do you need? I can probably help, if you need me to.”

 

“I just need… I just need to send out another email,” Ryan sighed, staring at his computer screen, “I need someone whose preferably… probably somewhat skeptical of everything I say. That kind of dynamic seemed to work before, but… it’s just going to be…”

 

“Oh, really?” Shane tried really hard not to facepalm. _Really hard_. They had discussed Ryan’s interests on spirits before, and as much as his interest and apparent knowledge of the subject was fascinating, Shane had thought his unrelenting skepticism had been obvious. Ryan would give him looks sometimes, but he would always continue to talk to Shane about it anyways. Shane wouldn’t press this… he was going to let Ryan figure it out on his own. And if he didn’t then… well, Shane had faith that he would.

 

“Yeah, and preferably someone,” Ryan turned to face him, “That I’d…” He narrowed his eyes, “Work well with…”

 

“Hm, I wonder who could possibly meet that quota?” Shane had failed to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

 

“Oh.” Ryan started laughing. He covered his face with his hands as he had to lean forward to laugh harder. “ _Oh_.”

 

“What is it?” Shane smirked.

 

“I’m an idiot.”

 

“Sorry, didn’t catch that.”

 

“Nothing,” he tried to compose himself, leaning back as far as his chair would let him, “Hey Shane?”

 

“Yes Ryan?”

 

“How would you like to co-host Buzzfeed Unsolved with me?”

 

“Hm, I’m not so sure,” Shane pretended to think, tapping a finger to his chin, “I’d have to check my schedule.” Ryan swung forward and punched him in the arm.

 

“Stop joking around; I really need someone.”

 

“How sweet, I can’t believe I was the first person you thought of. I feel _honoured_.”

 

“You’re a dickhead. I might have to change my mind.”

 

“I suddenly feel perfect for the job,” he winked, turning back to his own computer, “I’ll send an email to HQ right away.”

 

“Thank you so much. I owe you one.”

 

“Hey, Ryan?”

 

“Yeah?”

“What’s the first video I’ll be doing?”

 

“The Illuminati.”

 

“God _dammit_.”

 

* * *

 

Shane felt absolutely _miserable_. While it was nice that he was using some of his sick days to sleep in at home, at the same time the constant discomfort outweighed the goods of the situation. At least he was getting through with the flu at the beginning of the season rather than when it was in full swing.

 

When he awoke, Shane had virtually no idea what time it was, or even if the world was properly functioning outside of his curtained window. He had originally moved to drape himself over his couch in the living room to seem somewhat productive during the course of the day, but in all honestly it was just _that_ much more uncomfortable and chilly than his own bed. Even the TV was giving him a horrible headache, so he left it on a dull murmur on some music channel.

 

Through the slits of what he was willing to open of his eyes, he blearily watched some infomercial and a _farmersonly.com_ ad play, only slightly amused at their advertising tactics. Reaching outside of the familiar warmth of the over-heated blanket he was wrapped in, he grabbed his phone before retreating back into his cocoon.

 

Being weak enough as it was, it honest to god felt like death had finally wrapped its measly grip around his poor soul when it was too late to realize that his phone brightness was cranked all the way up. The headache wasn’t worth it, but soon enough he had actually managed to make it as dim as possible, despite it still feeling like he was staring directly into a million suns. Plus there were a few texts he _definitely_ had to attend to… that had been received... _many hours ago._

 

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Why have you been dead for the past few days_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _You havent even been on twitter_

 

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Dude are you okay_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Are you actually dead_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _And i just got you for unsolved too :/_

 

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Okay i was kidding_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _I do actually care about your wellbeing sometimes_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _You can text me back now_

 

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Did the illuminati actually get you_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _I fucking knew it_

 

The texts easily pulled a smile from Shane as he stared at them. It was over a long period of time that these texts had been sent, but it still amused him that Ryan felt compelled to update so frequently. Even just thinking about Ryan writing those texts began to clear the storm clouds in Shane’s head, and consequently made him feel oddly giddy and warm.

 

**Shane Madej:**      _no actually it was our overlord kobe_

**Shane Madej:**      _he has come back to show me his wrath_

 

Tucking it underneath him, Shane was about to roll back over to go back to dozing until he felt it buzz underneath his chest.

 

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Fuck you_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _…. I knew you wouldnt die so easily_

**Shane Madej:**      _how sweet_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Shut up_

**Ryan Bergara:**     _Im coming over_

**Shane Madej:**      _wait what_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _As soon as i leave work_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _I wanted to leave early anyways_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _At least now i have an excuse_

 

Shane suddenly had an intense coughing fit, almost dropping the phone out of his hands. It took him almost a full minute to stop, but when he checked his screen again, he found that Ryan hadn’t messaged anything else. Shane took immediate action.

 

**Shane Madej:**      _not ideal_

**Shane Madej:**      _i seem to have contracted the plague_

**Ryan Bergara:**     _Ill bring a mask then_

**Shane Madej:**     _why are you so persistent_

**Ryan Bergara:**     _I cant have my lovely cohost die on me when we have so many shoots to do_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Next week, may i add_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Ill even make you something to eat dont worry_

**Shane Madej:**      _i didnt even say i was sick before_

**Shane Madej:**      _why were you so sure that i was sick when you decided that ur coming over_

 

**_Ryan Bergara is typing . . ._ **

 

**Ryan Bergara:**      _I didnt think this far_

**Shane Madej:**      _wow i never expected that of you_

**Ryan Bergara:**     _:(_

**Ryan Bergara:**     _Ill be there in 30 mins_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Be able to open the door somehow_

**Ryan Bergara:**      _Unless you want me to physically break it down_

 

Staring at the time he had until Ryan would arrive, Shane clicked his phone off and attempted to sit up. He was of course greeted with a massive wave of nausea, but unless he wanted to greet his neighbour looking like a piece of shit, he would have to do something about it.

 

Productivity was definitely not a strong suit of his while he was sick, so Shane only managed to drag himself around his apartment to unlock the front door and gargle some water as a substitute for tooth brushing before he found himself falling asleep on his couch again. Time wasn’t even real at this point anymore.

 

That point was further proven when it only felt like seconds later that he began to blink his eyes open to the sounds of an intruder in his kitchen. His nose was completely blocked, but he could barely feel the steam radiate from whatever was cooking on the stove. In addition to every new factor within his environment, he vaguely noticed that whoever was moving around the kitchen was also humming - barely loud enough for Shane to hear. Shane snuggled up into his blanket and tried to best to discern the melody.

 

“Are you awake or am I making an idiot of myself?” Ryan suddenly spoke up, voice soft and gentle. Shane was about to answer, but the only thing to come out of his mouth was another coughing fit. Ryan stepped forward but was at a loss of what to do, and simply stood to watch Shane cough it out before running back to the pot on the stove. “You don’t need to worry too much about anything… I’m the one taking care of you, remember? And I hope you don’t mind me using your kitchen.” Shane shook his head as best as he could before slinking back into his original position.

 

Ryan rushed around the kitchen, chopping a few things here, dripping a few things there. Though Shane couldn’t smell what he was making, he could definitely sense that it was some sort of soup. Foreign containers and glass bottles lined his counter, but he wasn’t completely sure what it could possibly be until he noticed the empty wrapper littered on the breakfast bar.

 

“Instant noodles,” Shane croaked sadly. They were the first words that he had said in what felt like days, and it was almost as if his throat had forgotten to work. Even Ryan looked surprised.

 

“What?”

 

He cleared his throat before trying again. “Why?”

 

Ryan peered at him, utterly confused. Shane tried his best to gesture the empty package on the breakfast bar counter with his chin, and finally Ryan’s eyes widened in understanding.

 

“Ramen?” he suggested, a hint of entertainment in his tone. Shane nodded and wrinkled up his nose. “It’s the good kind, I promise. And it’s for the broth with it - it’ll help with your throat and the congestion.”

 

Now Shane’s face was of pure exasperation. The soup stock packets were packed full of sodium and not the most ideal for rejuvenating health. Ryan was rubbing his hand across his face, trying to think of how else to describe just what on _Earth_ he was trying to achieve.

 

“I made my own broth,” Ryan finally explained, pointing at the new bottles and containers lined up on the counter, “I promise it tastes a lot better than the packet… _not like you’ll be able to taste anyways,_ ” he muttered under his breath, turning away to turn off the stove. Shane barely caught it, but his retort wouldn’t have been heard over the pouring of broth into a large soup bowl.

 

“You’re fine with spicy, right?” Ryan asked. Shane nodded. He regretted it only slightly when he saw just how much _Sriracha_ was currently being poured into his soup. “You’re going to have to sit up to eat this, so hurry up and find a way. Do you have some sort of stable… lap table you can eat this on?” Shane shook his head, and Ryan sighed. “Good luck eating from the coffee table then.

 

Seeing that Ryan was already on his way with a boiling bowl of instant noodles, Shane tried putting in a little bit more effort in sitting up without passing out immediately. Soon, he was managing to take his first few sips, burning his tongue despite the little-too-late _‘careful it’s hot’_ warning Ryan half-heartedly gave. He glared at his friend, but otherwise ignored the stinging pain in his mouth and down his throat. It was clearing his throat and the broth _did_ taste very good, so it wouldn’t be in his place to complain anyhow. For the first few minutes, Ryan sat on the couch beside him while he ate.

 

“It’s good,” Shane tested out his vocal chords again between spoonfuls, “Thanks.”

 

“It’s no problem. I make it all the time,” Ryan gushed, waving it off. He scanned the room around them, finding something else to do other than awkwardly stare at Shane as he ate. “You, uh, haven’t been able to clean that much lately, have you? Because you’re, uh, sick, right?” Shane’s eyes flickered to some dirty clothes that had haphazardly been tossed onto the floor before flickering right back to his meal without any further acknowledgement. “If you’d like, I could help pick stuff up-” Shane shook his head at this statement, slurping some noodles before trying to open his mouth again.

 

“Don’t want you to.”

 

“Oh, uh… okay… that’s fine I suppose… I guess I already made you food and everything…” Ryan trailed off, gesturing with his hands. His attempt at a conversation wasn’t getting very far, especially considering how Shane didn’t even seem to be registering what he was saying, much less speaking back.

 

After a few more minutes of silence, Ryan cleared his throat. “Um… I know I sort of texted you about this before but… you should get better really soon. We… I… As I mentioned before, there’s been some shoots planned for next week for the Unsolved Supernatural finale, and I can’t have my co-host calling in sick last minute.”

 

“Not last minute.”

 

“I can’t believe you actually used some of your limited energy to tell me that. But yeah, I’d like to still be able to fly out to Kansas and not to mention Mexico with a perfectly healthy coworker.” Shane’s head whipped around in interest. Ryan continued. “Yeah - it was all planned out beforehand, but I still have the tickets and hotel rooms, and so far your Illuminati episode seemed to be pretty successful. I can’t lose two co hosts so suddenly.” He smiled somewhat pathetically. Shane’s expression morphed between that of amusement and sympathy, but then he nodded and went back to his meal.

 

“That’s why I need you all better,” Ryan huffed. Shane had to bite back a pleased smile. The soup was warming him up completely… _or maybe he was getting a fever?_

 

Without any warning, Shane suddenly felt Ryan’s hand brush some of his bangs away and rest on top of his forehead. He jerked in surprise, but didn’t shy away from the touch. It was rather soft and cool, contrasting to his actually pretty gross hot and sweaty skin that it was so unfortunate to touch. Ryan kept it there for a few more beats before swiping at his messy bangs to make them stick up at odd angles again.

 

“You don’t have a fever yet,” Ryan frowned, standing up, “But you’re still pretty warm. Do you want a cool cloth?” Shane shrugged, so Ryan continued to stare down at him, sizing him up. So he stared right back. He could almost see how Ryan’s eyes were softening and look at him -dare he say- _fondly_. Ryan was turning around and walking away before Shane could register anything that was happening.

 

“I’ll go get you some Tylenol and some water. You should rest up.”

 

* * *

 

There was an alarm beeping across the room. Shane was too comfortable and warm in his queen-sized hotel bed and soft duvet to do anything about it, but it slowly but surely annoyed him awake. _And no one was turning it off._

 

“Ryan?” he grunted, burying his face in his pillow. “Turn it off.” Ryan’s breath stuttered, but then calmed once again. Ticked off, he sat up as abruptly as he could and chucked the pillow tucked underneath him at his friend’s head, hitting its target with a satisfying _phumf_ . Ryan groaned but barely moved, so Shane flopped back down in defeat. “ _Turn it off, dammit._ ”

 

“Why don’t you turn it off?” Ryan grumbled, his back to Shane.

 

“Because it’s _your phone_ . On _your side_.”

 

Their silence was pierced only by the rhythmic beeping of the alarm. Ryan was probably processing what he had to do still, so Shane let himself slowly be roused from his bleary state. He watched Ryan’s strong but sloped back rise and fall gently with each breath. His duvet had slid down his figure, so he could see the muscles barely outlined on his back through his thin t-shirt. Each resonating pulse of the alarm was steadily dragging out and gradually changing tone.

 

“Fine,” he finally sighed, shifting so that he could finally turn off the alarm. “I think Teej said we need to meet him downstairs in the lobby at 11 for checkout and then go look for a good place for lunch. Then we can be at the airport for 3 to try and get through customs before our flight.”

 

“Mexico here I come,” Shane mumbled into his mattress where his pillow used to be. Pulling himself up, he dragged himself around their little room to pack up and get himself ready for the flight later that day.

 

“Do you like airplanes that much?” Ryan asked Shane while he was brushing his teeth. Ryan was concentrating on getting his hair just right so he probably wasn’t paying the best attention, but Shane couldn’t really answer at the moment unless he wanted to dribble toothpaste foam everywhere. So Ryan answered for him. “I used to love airplane rides when I was younger, but it’s still pretty nice now. Of course there’s always the worry of babies on the plane or turbulence, but I think I’m a pretty heavy sleeper, and it’s _so nice_ having the extra few hours to catch up on sleep or work,” he continued to ramble.

 

Shane spit and rinsed out his mouth. Ryan continued to rant.

 

“San Jose is cool and all, but driving up is only so exciting…”

 

“Yeah, flying is okay,” Shane contributed, drying off his mouth before going to finish packing his bags. Ryan somewhat followed him out, leaning against one of the walls as he continued talking. Honestly, Shane didn’t really mind the fact that he felt the need to fill the silent gaps as they finished packing.

 

Ryan constantly seemed to have a camera on hand as if he was vlogging their entire trip himself. Sometimes Shane would turn around to see the camera directed at him, but didn’t really pay an attention to it most of the time. He spent a good time at the airport sleeping while waiting for their flight, and while they waited to go through customs and to check in their baggage, Ryan chatted with Teej for the most part.

 

Finally, it was time to board the plane. While the change of scenery was the peak of their excitement within the past few hours, Shane knew that it wouldn’t be the most enjoyable. All of his gangly limbs barely fit in a plane seat, and he was too out of it to even concentrate on one of the movies offered on the tiny screen. Right after the plane took off, Shane made sure his headphones were snug around his head and chose a decent radio station on the plane to listen to as he dozed off for the millionth time that day, the rumbling of the plane lulling him to sleep.

 

It honestly only felt like seconds later, but somehow he sensed that the plane was beginning to land. Adjusting his glasses on his face, Shane vaguely noticed that there was a camera pointing at his face again, but he was too tired to care. Plus, it moved to go look out the dinky plane window and at the scenery a few seconds later.

 

Shane probably stared at Ryan for entirely too long as they waited for the people ahead of them to leave the cabin. Ryan was trying his best to grab his bag from the above compartment, his own glasses sliding down his nose as he yawned. Rubbing his eyes, he noticed Shane looking at him and offered him a lazy smile. Shane blinked and smiled back, quickly turning away.

 

Everything was dark outside, but the more Shane made his way through the airport, the more awake he felt. He supposed getting more sleep was the most logical action though, considering how the next night he’d be awake for a large portion of it anyhow. Ryan seemed to be thinking the same, in addition to still probably recovering from the Winchester House. Shane still wondered how he even managed to host a show with such morbid backgrounds when he didn’t seem to get much sleep after recording some episodes. That being said, if he thought the Winchester House was bad, Shane could only imagine how Ryan was going to react with the next two slightly more intimidating locations.

 

Everything was still too hot and sticky for the end of summer, but he supposed that was what he got for being in Mexico. And for being in a crowded taxi van. Teej was probably lucky taking shotgun - Shane had squished himself up against the window as much as he could to allow Ryan beside him have more space. While Ryan was definitely smaller than he was, by no means did that make either of them small compared to other people.

 

Arriving at the hotel was a bit like finding a save point in a tough game - a place where Shane could temporarily relax and ditch his belongings. He was not very tired anymore, but being able to sit for an x amount of time and catch up on work or social media was comforting to say in the least. As soon as he was out of the taxi van, he went directly inside and sat down on one of the couches in the lobby and waited for the rest of the crew. He watched Ryan march up to the desk not long after his entrance, speaking charmingly to the staff. A few minutes later, he was heading straight for Shane.

 

“Hey guess what,” Ryan smirked, throwing a card pocket at his friend.

 

“What?” Shane fumbled it before turning it over to see the blue ink scrawled on the pocket.

 

“Room 205,” he proclaimed, “Kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Shane blinked, staring at the little _205_ that was right above the wifi password.

 

“Yeah.. it is.” He pulled the card out and examined it.

 

“Don’t lose it.”

 

Shane glared at him. “Who do you think I am?”

 

“Kidding. Let’s go up and ditch our stuff. I told everyone that we’d regroup and go find somewhere good to eat. I don’t know about you, but I know for a fact that Mexican street-side tacos are the best things in the entire world _\- other than maybe popcorn -_ and at the very least definitely better than airplane food.”

 

“I’m looking forward to it.” He stood up, groaning like an old man. He followed his friend to the elevators, waiting in silence for one of the lifts to make its way down to the main floor.

 

“Don’t get too drunk tonight,” Ryan joked awkwardly, trying to fill in the silence.

 

“What?”

 

“Well I assume we’re probably going to get a few cervezas, if not any cocktails.”

 

“Oh, yeah… you’re right. Probably.”

 

“I guess we can indulge a bit… since we aren’t leaving to the island until late afternoon.”

 

“I’ll see how I’m feeling tonight then.”

 

“Don’t want to have the same thing happen as last time, right?” Ryan laughed offhandedly. Shane’s stomach plummeted as he froze.

 

“What?”

 

Ryan blinked at him owlishly, eyes widening suddenly in realization. Luckily the elevator finally dinged at its arrival, interrupting them of their moment. Shane turned away and walked directly into the compartment, holding the door open as he waited for Ryan to move again. Looking rather uneasy, his coworker hesitantly stepped inside the elevator beside him, the door sliding closed behind him.

 

“So you do… er… remember? _Everything_?” Shane brought up the taboo topic again stupidly. In all honesty he did not entirely want to pursue the topic, but his curiosity was getting to the best of him. The elevator whirred to life and jerked upwards.

 

Ryan narrowed his eyes. “And you do too?”

 

“But you regretted it, didn’t you? I mean, I’m just an acquaintance… why wouldn’t you-?”

 

“No, I never said-”

 

They were both interrupted once again by the elevator halting to a stop. Shane steeled his face and stared directly in front of him at the opening doors. He could see Ryan’s gaze flickering to the floor and his shoulders sag out of the corner of his eye.

 

“Look,” Shane sighed, “Let’s just not talk about it for tonight. We should have fun since we’re here and not worry over some stupid thing that happened ages ago.” Ryan seemed ready to protest, but Shane rushed out of the elevator before he could say anything. Behind him, he could hear his friend jog and try to catch up with him, both looking for their shared room.

 

Ryan beat him to it. He stood in front of the door, staring at the little numbers etched in the plaque beside the room.

 

“Open the room, dork,” Shane teased, trying to move in front of him to open the door himself. A large competitive grin spread across Ryan’s face as he childishly struggled to keep his stance and open the door with his card. The tiny lock light blinked to a green and Ryan burst into the room first, whooping triumphantly. Shane stood at the doorway, watching him fondly.

 

The food at the place they later found ended up being _amazing_. Ryan drank quite a bit and seemed to enjoy himself. Shane only drank enough to let his mind become fuzzy, but still kept a respectable distance between himself and his friend.

 

* * *

 

Shane flipped through the camera’s storage, making sure the recordings were all there. Shutting it off, he put it back in its bag and placed it in the back seat. He reached up and turned the rental car’s above light off.

 

Relaxing into his seat, he watched Ryan drive. He hadn’t said anything when he turned off the light - which was surprising since he would have had to adjust his eyes since it was so dark outside. Scratch that: Ryan was barely blinking. Sweat glistened on the sides of his face, and each breath he took was shaky. Shane couldn’t think of the right thing to say.

 

“You’re gonna be fine,” he assured, picking out his words slowly. “Nothing bad happened.”

 

“What do you mean nothing bad happened?” Ryan started to laugh nervously. His knuckles whitened from his grip on the steering wheel. He opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed as he opted to bite his lip instead.

 

“Nothing bad happened,” he repeated calmly.

 

“Yeah,” Ryan rolled his eyes, his shakiness beginning to show in his voice again, “Except for, _you know_ , the whole Sallie demon being there and flashlights thing.”

 

“Calm down, dude. You _left_ . Even if there _were_ some,” he bit out in favour of consoling his friend, “They’re all gone now. Back in the house or whatever.”

 

Ryan shook his head. “No, you don’t understand,” he mumbled, absently giggling, “It’s like I can feel it following me. I’ve got goosebumps still and I feel sick.”

 

“That’s just anxiety.” It was too dark for him to see any goosebumps on Ryan’s arm, but he was covering them with his other hand now anyways, gripping and rubbing his arm with such a force as if he was trying to get rid of the goosebumps. “Seriously, dude. Just stop thinking about it. It’s only making you worse.”

 

“Do you know how many times we provoked it?” Ryan relented miserably, voice dimming as he concentrated on making a left turn, “Father Thomas warned us, I should’ve listened, _oh god…_ ”

 

“Look,” Shane sighed, running a hand through his hair, “If anything, the demon would have gone after me. I made myself more of a target than you would ever dare to be.” Ryan glanced over at him and smiled weakly, but his shoulders were still tense. Leaning forward, Shane turned on the radio at a lower volume, letting soft rock barely fill the tense air around them.

 

“I guess that’s kind of true,” Ryan admitted, “I still put myself out there more than I would have if it weren’t for the show, though.”

 

“Well, if something does end up following you home for some godforsaken reason, just remember that I’m always right next door.”

 

“Mm.”

 

“You can even…” Shane paused, debating whether or not to go along with a sudden thought of his. “You know what? I probably have a spare key around somewhere. I can trust you enough.”

 

“You what?” They were stopped at a light now, thank god, and Ryan was openly staring at him in shock, mouth falling open slightly. Shane nodded back in clarification. Ryan frowned, glancing back to the road just in time to see the light turn green. “You really don’t have to.”

 

“Contrary to popular belief, I actually care about your well-being sometimes.”

 

“That doesn’t sound very convincing.”

 

“Are you going to let me?”

 

“You can if you want to,” Ryan grumbled.

 

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to come off as so imposing,” Shane rubbed the back of his neck, “You don’t have to take up on the offer if you don’t want to.”

 

“No, no, it’s fine. Even if you didn’t insist, I might have taken it.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“I just… didn’t realize you weren’t worried about… y’know…” he struggled with his words, trying to portray an idea without outright saying what he was thinking. Shane peered at him curiously.

 

“Worried about what? Why would I be worried?”

 

“I thought you forgot about the… the _incident_ ,” Ryan waved his hand around, “You said you wanted to talk about it, so why not now?”

 

Shane narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure now is the best time?”

 

“You were the one who told me I should distract myself.” He took in a shaky breath and released it slowly, letting his shoulders finally drop. “You remembered it after this long too… I didn’t think you would. It’s so insignificant, I don’t know why I blew it up in my head.”

 

“It… never went away from me either,” Shane admitted. Ryan’s eyes were intense, but he still concentrated on the road ahead of him. “I didn’t realize _you_ had remembered it too.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Of course, dummy. But… why did it stick with you?”

 

Ryan was silent for quite a bit. He was probably mulling over what he could say in his head, so Shane let him. His fingers were fidgeting with the steering wheel. After what felt like hours, Ryan finally spoke up, and Shane was all ears.

 

“I… missed it,” he began slowly, testing out the waters, “It felt… I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything when you didn’t mention anything about it whatsoever.” He paused, frowned, and then turned to Shane. “And what about you?”

 

“I guess I enjoyed it.”

 

“You… _guess_?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It was so messy though. We were both drunk off our asses.”

 

“I still liked it.”

 

“Well I’m glad I was able to be of some entertainment.”

 

Shane crossed his arms. “I enjoy being around you. With you. I still worry about you all the time too.” Ryan’s confidence faltered, and he refrained from looking at his friend. Shane continued. “Look: I honestly never thought anything of it before… the _incident…_ but I’ve never regretted it once.”

 

“Then why didn’t you say anything about it?”

 

“Why didn’t _you_ say anything about it?” he glared accusingly at him. Ryan burst out into laughter, and Shane couldn’t help the tiny smile threatening to show.

 

“I’m glad we’re both equally as dense.”

 

“Who are you calling dense?”

 

“You, for not saying anything to me.”

 

“Shut up. I got jealous.”

 

“ _What?!_ ” Ryan’s head whipped around, quickly turning back to the road when Shane shouted in concern of their safety and lives. “ _How_ were you jealous?”

 

Shane wrinkled his nose, unwilling to say. Then again, it would probably be for the better if he just admitted it. “Brent. He was always with you when I wasn’t after the incident and… I dunno... it’s stupid in retrospect.” Ryan burst out into laughter again, and Shane would have shoved him if here weren’t driving. “You shut up! At least I wasn’t only wallowing in my own thoughts and overthinking everything.”

 

“Well I’m glad we’ve finally come to a conclusion a year later.”

 

“It hasn’t been a year yet, has it?”

 

“Hm.. no, I don’t think so. It certainly has felt like one. You grew pretty distant for a while.”

 

“Sorry about that. To be fair, I also became pretty busy.”

 

“ _Excuses, excuses_ ,” Ryan clicked his tongue, grinning.

 

“Hey so…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What are we going to do about it now?”

 

“I… dunno.”

 

“I mean with the show and all... plus we’re coworkers…”

 

“Maybe we can just take it slow?”

 

“We’ve already been taking this very slowly,” Shane teased. Ryan shook his head.

 

“You said you were content with just spending time together. It’s just… now that we… really know what was up with the incident, we can just progress from there.”

 

“Sounds good.”

 

“Okay.” Ryan took a deep breath out, as if he had been holding it in for a very long time. To Shane, it felt more like a large weight was finally lifted off of his shoulders.

 

“Hey, if you’re still scared, you can hide in my bed tonight instead.”

 

“Shut it, Bigfoot. Don’t remind me.”

 

“Of what? Your love for me?”

 

“I suddenly regret everything I’ve ever said to you.”

 

“... Are you lost by any chance?”

 

“I- wait, what?”

 

Shane gestured out his window with his thumb. “We still haven’t gotten back to the hotel yet, and it’s been ages. Glad to have this talk though.”

 

“I’m not lost,” Ryan protested, “I took one wrong turn but I know where I am now.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes. We’re only a few blocks away. See, there’s the cafe we went to for lunch.” Shane watched the little shop Ryan mentioned pass on his side of the car. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but he could barely make out the words etched into a swinging sign.

 

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence between them. He hadn’t realized it at first, but Phillip Phillips’ _Home_ was gently filtering through the rental car speakers. It was oddly ironic, Shane noted, at how well the sung lyrics weaved so perfectly into his own life. This time, Shane let himself stare at Ryan however he wanted, letting the chords in the music pleasantly wash over him.

 

“You know…” Shane began softly, “Remember the second time we met? And you said something about my place feeling a lot more… _homey_? Was that how you worded it?”

 

“Maybe,” Ryan hummed, “Sounds like something I’d say. That was when you found me drunk at my own doorstep, right?”

 

“Don’t over-exaggerate. Even back then you insisted that you were only tipsy.”

 

“Whatever. What was your point?”

 

“It’s just… I dunno… it kind of feels like _you_ were the one that made everything feel like home.”

 

“... Are you sure about that? I didn’t do that much.”

 

“You lent a helping hand. It was more than enough.”

 

“It was being a good neighbour.”

 

“Well, it’s part of the reason why I’m giving you my spare key anyways.”

 

“You really don’t have to.”

 

“Why not? Why wouldn’t I want a hot piece of ass have access to my apartment all of the time?”

 

“Stop embarrassing yourself.”

 

“Oh, please.”

 

“You really don’t have to do this much for me though,” Ryan continued, voice a lot quieter than before. Shane gazed at him adoringly for a bit. He felt content like this, constantly being with him. The atmosphere was warm and fuzzy around them, and honestly, Shane would have spent forever in this moment of time if he could. With a twinkle in his eye, his mouth quirked up into a smile.

 

“It’s called being a good neighbour.”

**Author's Note:**

> [buzzfeed unsolved tumblr](https://unsolvedbs.tumblr.com/)
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>  
> 
> [my tumblr](http://universalsatan.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [writing blog (for chapter/fic updates)](http://celestialberries.tumblr.com/)


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